Before and Beyond the Recital
by WildZephyr
Summary: Otsukimi Recital, but in depth. The story of Hibiya and how he came to discover his eyes, as well as come to terms with his past. Ongoing, updated regularly.


_Disclaimer: I do not own the Kagerou Project or any of its affiliated material._

_Author's notes: This is as far canon as possible. This is not any Route that has been revealed in the Kagerou Project. Any facts thus presented are correct or unconfirmed as of 7 April 2014. If any contradictions are found, don't hesitate to drop a comment and I'll correct it._

* * *

_A light, no matter how dim, will pierce through the darkness. Growing up, that was what I have been taught. Blindly, I followed that rule, and today, it came back to haunt me._

_"AHHHHHH!" The blood would not stop. Please, please don't do this... I can't take it anymore. If I am to live in a world without you, then it would be better if I did not live._

_"Why are you doing this? Do you even know us?!" I yelled at the hooded man, hoping to finally get some answers. But the man simply remained silent, revealling a small smirk._

_Something snapped within me, and I ran at the hooded man, screaming out in agony, hoping that he would just shoot me as well. To my disappointment, he dodged my weak attempt at a punch and threw me onto the ground. The rain continued to fall, splattering on my face while my consciousness dimmed. "No... I don't want to lose you..." I stretched my hand out towards her, but her body seemed just... so far away._

* * *

Hibiya woke up. Adrenaline rushed through his brain as he got out of bed and prepared for the 22nd repetition of today. At least, that was what he intended to do before he caught sight of the digital clock on the dresser beside his bed.

"Why..?" Despair flooded into him as he realised the consequence of the numbers displayed on the clock: 16 - AUG. "Why didn't the day repeat itself? Why?" Hibiya repeated the singular word until the word itself lost all meaning. There never was a reason. Like how there wasn't a reason as to why Hiyori and him were thrown into this hellish cycle.

"And just to your whim, you pulled me out? Let me go back. LET ME GO BACK, DAMN IT!" Hibiya yelled at the mastermind orchestrating this series of events.

After what seemed like a few hours, he got up from the bed and left the house. He had needed to do something, or he would have gone insane then and there.

The city seemed so foreign and strange to him.

_If only we hadn't come here in the first place; if only I had the courage to turn her down._

Hibiya sat down at the side of a busy street and looked at all the people passing by. Not a single one of them looked back at him, like how not a single one of them had come to her aid. He felt lonely, like no one understood the world he was forced to live in. Tears began to fill his eyes again when he heard a voice speaking to him, "Are you okay, little boy?"

Hibiya looked up to see a hooded person in close proximity, having bent over to take a closer look at him. Instantly, instinct kicked in and he pounced onto the stranger with a feral leap and growled, "I'll kill you... I'll definitely kill you!"

"Ahhh!" the stranger let out a shrill of fright in response. The hood was thrown off, and to his surprise, he saw the idol Kisaragi Momo in front of him.

Immediately, murmurs erupted from every direction. The murmurs grew in magnitude until they became screams of delight. "It's Momo! The idol, she's here!" A wave on onlookers flooded in and Momo, who clearly looked distressed by the attention, grabbed Hibiya's hand and pulled him along with her, escaping swiftly into a side alley.

It was all so sudden that he did not even have time to react, and before he knew it, he was in front of an apartment with the number "107" on the door.

"Where are you taking me?!" Hibiya asked indignantly and pulled his arm away from her surprisingly tight grip.

Momo stared at him as though she just realised that he was here. Then a sheepish grin broke out on her face as she said, "Oh no, my old habit worked up again. Everytime I'm surrounded by my fans I tend to just escape here, but I didn't mean to drag you along, honest!"

Hibiya replied with a cold, deadpan voice, "You're an idol, aren't you? Why don't you just talk to your fans and sign some autographs or someth-"

It was then that he remembered: Hiyori was a big fan of Momo. She had gone to all her concerts and had really wanted an autograph for her previous birthday. He never did and never will grant her that wish.

Hibiya's emotions darkened considerably, and he clenched his fists, trembling in sorrow.

Momo noticed his despair, and said cheerfully, "Well, since you're already here, why not come on in?"

He was in no mood to respond, so he merely turned and prepared to walk away. "Hey, hey, hold it right there. I promise you, it'll be fun," she said, as she pulled his vest and knocked on the door with the other hand.

The door opened a few seconds later, and a youngster with cat-like eyes popped his head out. "Oh, Momo, you're here. And who's that?" he asked, smiling at us.

"Ah, Kano. This here's..." Momo hesitated, and then turned to face me. "What's your name again?"

Hibiya remained silent. Kano looked at him and laughed, "Ah, a problem kid, is it? That's fine, that's fine." Kano stepped forward and gestured extravagantly, "Come one, come all! Welcome to the Mekakushi Dan, where all the cool kids hang out!"

Momo, with some effort, managed to push the reluctant Hibiya in. A group of three people were gathered inside, sitting on a U-shaped sofa. They seemed to had been discussing something with great intent when they were rudely interrupted.

"Oh, can't you just be quiet for one second, Kano?" a girl in a purple hoodie groaned.

Kano laughed and said, "I'm not making pointless noise for once, Danchou! I think we might have a new member today."

"A new member? Really? Is it a girl?" a young girl with white flowing hair got up, asking excitedly.

"I'm sorry I'm a guy," Hibiya responded coldly. The young girl's smile faltered, and she sat down again, flushing.

"Marry, don't feel down, I'm sure he didn't mean it," the last guy said. "Did you?" The last two words were spoken with an air of hostility, and under that pressure, Hibiya apologized softly.

"It's okay, Seto. I'm alright, really." Marry smiled faintly at Seto, who by elimination, was the guy in the green hoodie.

Hibiya stepped (pushed, rather) into the apartment and sat (forced) on the sofa. Kido gestured, "Go ahead then, introduce yourself."

"Amamiya Hibiya. 12," Hibiya said, not wanting to reveal too much about himself. An awkward silence fell upon the room. No one seemed to want to speak up when...

*knock* *knock*

Kano stood up and walked over to the door saying, "We seem to be having a lot of visitors today, eh?"

He opened it to reveal a young man in a red hoodie already taking off his shoes.

"Ahh, it's you," Kano said.

"Yo," he said when he noticed the door open. "You don't seem too happy to see me."

Kano looked confused for a second, then broke into a wide grin. "What? Nah, nothing of the sort. Come in, come in."

"Wow, Onii-chan, a rare guest! Hibiya, you must be a lucky charm or something," Momo exclaimed. She continued, "That's my elder brother, Kisaragi Shintarou. He's a NEET. Well, he _was_ a NEET. Somehow, he'd changed after meeting us."

"Nothing of the sort," Shintarou replied. "I just thought I'd take a peek at how the project's coming up."

"Ah, it's not so good. We barely made any progress today. All we know about our eye powers are just what we know so far, there hasn't been any new discovery since a week ago," Kido said.

"Maybe there isn't anything else to find out after all," Seto said thoughtfully.

"Hmm, we can never be too sure," Shintarou said, staring at Hibiya. "What's wrong, Amamiya? Or could I call you Hibiya instead?"

"Do what you want," Hibiya muttered.

"Well, you just seem awfully down for some reason," Shintarou said. "No need to get all jumpy."

Hibiya lost his temper. "What do you know?" he hissed, standing up, eyes blazing with rage. "What do you even know? In fact, why do I have to stay here and pretend to be friends with people I don't even know?"

With that, he stormed out of the apartment.

Momo exclaimed, "Ah, wait!" She stretched out her hand to try and stop him, but was too slow.

She glared at Shintarou and said, "That was really insensitive of you, Onii-chan. I mean, why did you even try to get smart with him when he was so obviously depressed?"

The rest of the Mekakushi Dan looked at him with similar expressions.

Shintarou looked at them and sighed, "Alright, I'll go after him, if that's what you want."

* * *

Hibiya took wide strides leaving the flat, wanting to get away as far as possible. "... so obnoxious," he muttered under his breath.

"That's not true, you know. They were just trying to be nice," a voice in front of him said.

Hibiya looked up and saw Shintarou in front of him, leaning on a wall to the side.

"How did you-"

Shintarou interrupted, "Alright, now that we're alone, let's get the basics out of the way. Hibiya, I know about Hiyori, and I know that she wouldn't want you to be like this."

Hibiya was stunned. For a second he was speechless, then in the next moment he was on full alert. "Who the hell are you? Are you the one who killed her?!"

Shintarou sighed. He didn't want to reveal so much if possible, but this guy hadn't discovered his eye power just yet, and so was prone to disbelief.

"That wasn't me. It was someone you know very well. In fact, Hiyori knew him, too."

Hibiya replied harshly, "What? Stop playing games and tell me right now!"

Shintarou looked him in the eye and said, "Konoha was the one who killed her."

The world collapsed around Hibiya. He didn't want to trust this guy, but how else would he have known who Konoha was? Also, the fact that Konoha wasn't there when they went to visit couldn't have been a mere coincidence, either. But why? He and Konoha hadn't been on the best of terms, but Hiyori had been extremely close with him, and he didn't seem like a bad person, and...

Hibiya simply didn't know what to believe anymore. "Sh-shut up! I don't believe you... You're lying! You're..."

Shintarou walked up to Hibiya and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Calm down, Hibiya. I _need_ you to believe me."

"How can I believe you? A random stranger just comes up to me and tells me to suspect someone who I had practically treated as family... It's impossible," Hibiya muttered, clutching at his hair.

"Alright, look. I was in the loop as well. I know very well what happened," Shintarou said seriously.

_I had to lie to him. Everything I know about him, he told me himself... Only not in this timeline._

"You know? But how?"

"It's kinda a long story. But my eyes, they have this power to retain memories through timelines."_  
_

Hibiya asked, "So... I wasn't the only one?"

Shintarou replied, "Yes, Hibiya. You're not alone in this." _Of course, he didn't have to know I can observe timelines beyond the loop._

Tears welled up in Hibiya's eyes, and he began to cry to the relief that he didn't have to shoulder this pain alone anymore.

Shintarou looked solemn. He did not like what he had to do, nor what he had to make Hibiya go through, but this was necessary for the greater good.

"Yes... All for the greater good."


End file.
